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Thursday, March 30, 2017

Fulltimer Trials and Tribulations…

Another short travel day was in store for us as we departed from Blanco State Park in Blanco Texas. A short 22 miles further east and we would be in Canyon Lake Texas where we will stay for 10 days to visit our grandchildren who live in San Antonio Texas.

Before discussing our fun at Canyon Lake I should point out that life as a fulltimer isn’t always fun and fabulous. Just as in life before RV fulltiming there are some trying days and those that are not so pleasant. We ran through a stretch of that recently while traveling to through Texas. It started with our coffee maker dying but at least we had a great backup coffee maker in our Aeropress manual coffee maker. Another coffee maker would solve this problem.

Next, on a travel day I realized our bike rack had broken and I would need to figure out a way to load the bikes inside our rv for travel. Upon reflection we think a bolt broke when we hit (bottoming out) on a low spot while driving the CRV around the previous day. It will need to be disassembled and taken to a welder for repair (Sigh). Little did we know this would mark the beginning of a series of issues and blunders on our part.

Our first blunder occurred as we were hooking up the car to our Roadmaster Hitch. Sharon and I often do this together and then I re-inspect it afterwards just prior to leaving. This time Sharon inadvertently left off one of the clips which attached one of the safety cables from the car to the hitch. In turn I forgot to double check the hitch as I usually do before leaving. The result was a destroyed cable because we drug it behind us for 30 miles. It is not serviceable so it will now need to be replaced as son as we get to College Station, Texas. Sharon and I both were upset at our carelessness.

Our final blunder occurred after our arrival to Blanco State Park, As is our usual routine before backing in to a site we checked to ensure we could safely park without damaging our rig from overhanging trees or other obstacles. Sharon looked up and around the site as I was backing in and all seemed well. Well at least until I decided we needed to back up a bit more to have more space to park our CRV. I backed up more, put the jacks down and started putting the slides out when one of them didn’t want to go all the way out.

Why you may ask? Well the two foot tall wooden sign with our site number was preventing it from going out further. The result is a dent in one of our bin doors. The only bright side to the damage was that at least it was the only door which already had a deep scratch in it and was going to need repainting anyway. I had forgotten to have that one done while we were in Mexico. Maybe it was fate….

As if our blunders weren’t enough we have new issues with our light bulbs in the light fixture over sink going out and our toilet seal suddenly failing thus adding to our woes. Yep, things aren’t always rosy in this lifestyle. So would anything else happen now that we are in Canyon Lake? Apparently yes… When our son and his family came to stay last weekend our inflatable hideaway bed sprung a leak. I have patched it before so I thought it would no big deal but of course the new leak is on a seam and apparently unrepairable!

Despite all these trials and tribulations we are enjoying our time with our grandchildren probably more than our son and his wife are enjoying sleeping on the floor of our RV! While there is never a great time for all this to happen, soon we will be in our old home town for a month where we can more easily take the time to resolve our issues. We also took time to analyze, discuss and strategize ways to prevent blunders in the future. Such is life and we know this too will pass so that we can once more enjoy our adventure On the Road of Retirement….

NOTE: We are now in Lake Pointe RV Resort in Canyon Lake, Texas. chilling with our grandchildren…

Things go wrong in a house with a solid foundation too. At least your good days are better on the road than sitting in that old rocking chair. Once everything is back together you'll be free to roll again.

Yep, life is life wherever you live it! Dave always is outside watching as I either put the slides out or bring them in to prevent such an unfortunate accident. We never move the motorhome, even an inch, unless I'm outside watching either.....lessons learned!

The good news is you are nearing your home and with family. Perhaps a visit to Puerto Penasco is in order so you have have those repainted :)All is well, we all learn from our mistakes and carelessness but then such is life.

People do not understand it is no different than a stick and brick home. We have such a time explaining to family that we aren't on vacation! This is our house for 8 months a year. Upside....lots of family time. Super...enjoy!

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